IT: The New Generation
by Katdelval
Summary: It came back to Derry 30 years later and the original Lucky Seven were too old and too scarce to fight It. So now a new band of seven kids has formed to take their stand against an old evil.
1. Ouija

It was a dismal day, the sky was streaked with gloomy grey and it had been raining off and on all afternoon. This was depressing to Leona Collier, a seventh grader at Derry Junior High for the last few days of Spring Break before she had to go back to school were spent like this-- cooped up in her room with nothing better to do than spend the whole day staring out her bedroom window watching the rain fall down. She couldn't go anywhere because of this weather and her mother, when sober, had warned her to watch out because another child had gone missing. So far, three kids were missing and the remains of a nine-year-old girl had been found in a storm drain. There wasn't much left of the girl, whatever got a hold of her had ripped her apart. The thought sent chills up Leona's back.   
  
This was the sort of thing Seth was into. Seth Florin was Leona's classmate and he was one of the few people she actually talked to at her school. He wasn't really her friend though, he was Dustin's friend and he only gave her the time of day when Dustin or Caitlyn were around. Dustin Davis was Leona's best friend and Caitlyn Sellers was her cousin. Seth and Dustin had been joined by the hip since the days of fat crayons and safety scissors, and they were both in love with Caitlyn. It was rather annoying, whenever Leona wanted to spend time with Dustin and Caitlyn would show up and completely ruin it. Although she didn't mind talking to her cousin when it came down to actually having someone to talk to, but it was at these times she resented Caitlyn's presence. And wonder of wonders, she would be coming over today.  
  
Leona decided to pick up the phone and call somebody. She had a grand total of three people she could consider calling but right now that was better than nothing. Caitlyn would want to spend all her time talking about boys and her desires to be popular--conversation that Leona tired of quickly and she was sure she would be hearing plenty of it when she came over for dinner this evening. Seth never really wanted to talk to her about anything other than Caitlyn or his serial killer obsession that sort of disturbed her. So Dustin it was. She dialed his number like so many times before and heard the familiar voice of his mother answering the phone. She was snippy as usual; Mrs. Davis had never cared too much for Leona or her son's friendship with her. She thought that Dustin was too young to want much to do with girls like her from families like hers. With her dozens of black candles, her gothic style, and her dark, cynical personality Mrs. Davis didn't think anyone should have much to do with a no good child such as her.  
  
But she gave Dustin the phone anyway, after reminding her of the trouble she really didn't have to go through in doing so. "Hi Leona," he mumbled. In the background she could hear sounds from what had to have been a TV.  
  
"What are you doing?" she asked him.  
  
He didn't respond for a moment and then he said, "Oh, just playing a video game. House of the Dead. I never got this far before." Then he started frantically hitting the controls in order to dismember the zombies. There was no surprise there; Dustin's obsession lied in horror movies or any kind of thriller involving slashing, monsters, or the supernatural. He breathed the stuff. He was gone for a little while as she wrapped the phone cord around her finger and waited for his voice to come back on the line.   
  
Finally she gave up and sighed, "Why don't you just put the game on pause so you can talk to me?"   
  
"What? Oh, there's no point in bothering now-- I just died," he responded. "So what are you doing? This is pretty sucky weather, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, it's a drag that we have to spend the last days of our spring break indoors," Leona sighed.  
  
"Hmm, my mom wouldn't let me go out anyway because of the murders," Dustin said darkly.  
  
"They only found one body," she disputed.   
  
"Yeah but with the missing kids and all there's bound to be more. Seth said so. Anyway, if it wasn't for all that we would be out playing laser tag right now."   
  
Leona rolled her eyes. "Speaking of Seth, he's probably having a field day with all of this."   
  
"He has a few theories," Dustin answered dismissively. "I just wish there was something to do."  
  
"Well if you're that desperate you could always come over if you want to," she offered. "We're having lasagna tonight and my dad always makes a lot."   
  
"Well..." he sounded skeptical, "I don't know if my mom would let me or not."  
  
"She would turn down a free meal?" Leona questioned. "I doubt it, unless she thought that we put some sort of spell on your food. But she's let you eat over here before."   
  
"Well, I did want to see what I could finish on my House of the Dead game too," he informed her.  
  
"Oh come on, there's always time to be disemboweled by zombies," she was starting to feel a little desperate herself here. "Besides, Caitlyn will be here as well."  
  
"Caitlyn's coming?" he asked with interest. Somehow she knew that's what would get him. "Oh I guess so, let me ask."  
  
"Ok, just as long as you reassure your mom that we don't intend to poison you and when my dad's not loaded he's actually a really good cook," she grinned.   
  
"Maybe we should leave out the loaded bit..." Dustin mumbled.  
  
"Yeah, sure whatever it takes for her to say yes," she replied. He put down the phone and she waited for him to come back. When he did he asked her, "What time do you want me over?"  
  
"Six is fine," she answered.   
  
"Great, see you then."  
  
Dustin arrived shortly after Caitlyn did and for the first time in a long time Leona's family sat at the table and ate dinner. For some reason or another her mom felt obligated to treat her sister's kids every now and then so basically she and Dustin were both there for the prospect of a free meal. Dustin sat next to Caitlyn and spent the whole meal stealing glimpses of her and then quickly looking away before she noticed he had been staring and she did the same. It was like watching nine year olds had just discovered there really was a difference in those of the opposite sex and it made the pasta turn in Leona's stomach.   
  
When the meal was over the three headed to Leona's bedroom. Once again she caught Dustin staring at her cousin and she stared too to try to see if there was anything about her that might jump out to reveal exactly what it was that Dustin and Seth both saw in her. She had chestnut brown hair and bright blue eyes with a dusting of freckles on her nose. She wasn't popular, even though she really wanted to be and she cared more about what people thought of her than Leona did.  
  
Leona had black hair that she braided into pigtails on either side of her head. She had emerald green eyes that she was told were the same as her teenage sister, Audrey's. To be honest Leona really wanted nothing to do with Audrey in the least of any way. She wore a lot of black including black nail polish and gothic jewelry. People often thought of her as a freak and so far there weren't any boys who had been interested in her yet, probably because she figured that it was because Caitlyn was a lot more girly than she and that was ok if guys were into that sort of thing but she could pass. Girly was not her style.  
  
"This is boring," Caitlyn sighed, "There's gotta be something around here to do." Dustin grinned and Leona knew right off the bat what he was thinking. At the same time it had hit him she thought of it too. She and Dustin had a game they often played when there was nothing to do. It consisted of listing every possible thing that there was to do in the world that they could do, from dancing on cars to running away to Mexico and register as midgets so they could drink and open up a souvenir stand for American tourists. Somehow with Caitlyn's presence the game didn't seem as inviting though.  
  
"I know what we can do," Leona stated.   
  
"Steal the pink flamingos from Mrs. McCormick's yard and hold them hostage until she sees to our demands?" Dustin suggested.   
  
Caitlyn wrinkled her nose. "Why would we do that? What demands could the Flamingo Lady possibly see to of our?"  
  
Leona knew it wouldn't be as much fun with Caitlyn along. "Actually, I was thinking we could go upstairs in my attic and see what we can find in there. There's bound to be something interesting up there."   
  
"You would suggest something like that," Caitlyn sighed. "What could be scarier than hanging around in a creepy old attic on a stormy day such as this?"  
  
"Well, I guess it's something to do," Dustin shrugged. "And if we do see a ghost at least we would have done something and we could tell all our friends about it."  
  
Caitlyn frowned. "A ghost?" The prospect of this really didn't seem to please her at all.  
  
"Don't worry," Leona said, "the spirits of the dead cannot hurt the living."  
  
"Not according to `The Shining'", Dustin said stubbornly.   
  
"Well in any case I don't want to meet one," Caitlyn said timidly.   
  
"You worry too much," said Leona, "I seriously doubt there is anything in my attic other than a bunch of old junk that's about a thousand years old."   
  
So Caitlyn resigned and the three of them climbed up into the attic and started looking around. It was very dark and dusty with cobwebs everywhere and the sound of the rain hitting the roof made it a bit spooky. Caitlyn grabbed a box and looked inside. She screamed and the other two jumped at the shrill sound.   
  
"What is it?" Leona demanded.   
  
Caitlyn was bone white and not moving. She had a look of absolute horror on her face. A fat brown spider was crawling across the back of her hand and she shivered as it walked off.   
  
"It's just a spider," Leona chided. "Come here sweetie," she cooed and picked it up. Caitlyn turned about three shades of green as she watched it walk freely across Leona's palm.   
  
"I cannot believe I'm related to you," she moaned.  
  
"It's an attic, there are lots of spiders up here," Leona replied as she put it down.   
  
"Hey what's that?" Dustin demanded as his attention was directed to the box Caitlyn had found the spider in.   
  
"What, where?" Leona looked towards where he was pointing. "Oh wow," she breathed, "I think I know what that is." She pulled it out and held it up proudly. "It's a Ouija board!"  
  
"Well of course it's a Ouija board," said Caitlyn snidely.   
  
"What's wrong?" Leona inquired, "Are you afraid of this too?"   
  
"I'm not afraid of that," she replied, "I just think that stuff's all a crock."  
  
"Well what do you think Mr. Horror Master?" Leona turned to Dustin.  
  
"Well, `Witch Board' really was a classic, but I'm gonna have to agree on crock."  
  
Leona shrugged. "It's the store bought ones that are really crocked. If you want it to work you need a homemade board. And this looks pretty homemade to me. I think it belonged to my great grandmother; she was really into the same stuff that I am. Maybe we could try it out tonight, hold a s‚ance or something."  
  
"A s‚ance? Here?" Caitlyn looked around the attic uneasily.   
  
"Nah," Leona answered, "I have a lot of candles and stuff in my room. We can do it there."   
  
Leona set the board in the center of her room and put a circle of candles around it. Then she, Dustin and Caitlyn sat in a circle around the board and joined hands. Together they placed their hands on the triangle and set it in the center of the board between the letters and the numbers. "I can feel it," Dustin said exuberantly and rolled his eyes to the back of his head, "it's. it's telling me to. to kill my friends with an axe! Here's Johnny!!" He jumped on Caitlyn as he said this and she let out a short scream.   
  
"Stop it!" Leona scolded, "You'll offend the spirits!"  
  
"Before or after they disembowel us?" Dustin asked obnoxiously.  
  
"I told you," Leona sighed, "the spirits of the dead cannot harm the living. We're supposed to ask questions so we can communicate with them."   
  
"What are you wearing?" Dustin howled in a low, would-be spooky voice.   
  
Leona narrowed her eyes. "Leave the questions to me. She took a deep breath and in a solid voice she asked bravely, "Hello? Is anyone there?" The triangle began to move.  
  
"You're moving it," Dustin whispered.  
  
"No way, I'm not moving it," Caitlyn objected, "I'm barely touching it!"  
  
"Hush!" Leona hissed. The triangle stopped on *YES*.   
  
A thick silence covered the room. "What should I say next?" Leona whispered.   
  
"Ask them if their evil," Caitlyn requested.  
  
"Nice question," Dustin muttered.  
  
Leona glared at him and asked the board, "Are you evil?"   
  
Once again the triangle slid across the board, this time resting on *NO*. The three of them breathed a short sigh of relief, which sort of surprised them all. "What's your name?" Leona asked. The triangle moved across the board from letter to letter and they spoke each out loud as it would briefly make a stop.   
  
"G-E-O-R-G-E."   
  
"George?" Leona asked numbly.   
  
"That's a nice name," Caitlyn mused.   
  
"How old were you when you died?" Leona continued the "interrogation". The triangle stopped on the number 6.   
  
"Six?" Dustin demanded, "We're talking to a six-year-old? This is just a little creepy."  
  
Leona swallowed hard and asked it, "How did you die?"   
  
Once again the triangle moved across the letters. "C-L-O-W-N."  
  
"I hate clowns," Dustin muttered.   
  
"D-R-A-I-N."  
  
"A clown in a drain?" Caitlyn asked. "Now that is what I like to call creepy."  
  
"They found the dead girl in a drain," Dustin said gravely. "Maybe their connected."  
  
"Can you help us?" Leona questioned. "Can you tell us who is behind the killing?"  
  
"Killings," Dustin muttered. This time as the cursor moved across the board it rested on two letters alone, "I" and "T".  
  
"It."  
  
"Dustin, your mom's on the phone, she wants you to come home immediately," Leona's mother called up the stairs. The three of them jumped at the sound of her voice. "Caitlyn, I better take you home too, it's getting late."   
  
"Ok," the kids said in unison. They moved the cursor to *GOODBYE*, signifying the conversation was over.   
  
"That was pretty amazing, huh?" Leona breathed.  
  
"Well, I still think somebody had to have been moving it," Dustin remarked. "It seems like a major crock to me."  
  
"Yeah," Caitlyn agreed, "clowns in drains? Get real."  
  
"You know you were scared," Leona narrowed her eyes.   
  
"See you later, Lee," Dustin called as he and Caitlyn both went with Leona's mother for rides home. She sighed and wondered if she was the only one in the world who still believed in this stuff anymore.  
  
It stormed that night, really hard. A thunder clap woke Leona and out of curiosity, she decided to take out the Ouija board and play with it once again. She lit a few of her candles and gently placed her fingers on the triangle. It moved freely and easily. In surprise she asked who she was talking to. It responded, the dead girl from the drain. The clown got me too. It will get you and claw out your eyes, rip you apart and eat your skin. It happened to all of us, and it will happen to you because everyone floats down here.   
  
She screamed and through the board across the room. But the triangle held fast and to her amazement continued moving across the board, all on its own. In a mix of horror and astonishment she leaned in to read what it was spelling out.   
  
YOU WILL DIE IF YOU TRY. DIE IF YOU TRY.  
  
She grabbed the triangle and moved it quickly to *GOODBYE*. She then stuffed the board in her sock drawer and climbed into bed. She buried her face in the covers, trembling slightly in fear, but somewhere in the morning's early hours she was able to find sleep and she dreamed of circuses and storm drains. 


	2. 50,000 Red Balloons

Annie looked at Jake, who was now four inches from her nose and moving closer. She had never kissed anyone before, contradictory to what she told girls at school so they wouldn't think of her as a baby. Annie hated the thought of people looking down on her. Her real name actually, was Anastacia Reeves but that was just a bother to say with too many letters. Saying, "Oh yeah, my name is Anastacia how about you?" made her feel awkward and different and it was so much easier to just say Annie. There were a lot of Annies, it was a normal name. The boy who was trying to kiss her was Jake Clifton. He was admired by a lot of the girls for his "bad boy" nature and she was sure a lot of the seventh grade girls in her class would jump at the chance to be kissed by him. So it really wasn't that big of a deal. But then why was she nervous?  
  
She pulled away from him and turned her head to the side. "Oh come on Annie," he complained, "when are you gonna let me kiss you? I heard that you kissed a lot of boys, are you too good for me or something?"   
  
"No," she answered. "I just don't think I'm ready too..." she stopped suddenly. He was giving her that look, that 'you are such a baby' look. She hated that so much and if she had more nerve she probably would have grabbed him right there and shoved her whole tongue in his mouth just to prove that she could. But she didn't. She just stood there, her face growing hot and she knew she was blushing. She resented that even more than the look on his face.   
  
She liked Jake enough, he was tough and cool. Nobody messed with Jake Clifton at her school, nobody. So she supposed this made him a bit of a bully, like when he would cast fear in the hearts of the meek with his tough guy threatening glare and they would be forking over lunch money before he even asked for it. And one time he and Andy Duchance beat the hell out of some geek who wanted to talk smack but he had always been nice to her, if you didn't count making her feel small. But she doubted he even wanted to do that because he was the one he had chosen and this was an honor any girl could dream of. Especially her, she had a crush on Jake since fifth grade, it was the bad boy thing that did it. All the girls wanted a "macho" guy to take care of them and she just fell into their mold. It just felt really good to know that instead of spitting in your hair or tripping you in the aisles he wanted to kiss you and even make you his.  
  
She was a little confused about whether or not they really were an item. He never actually asked her out and he never called her his girlfriend but he would put his arm around her in the halls and sit with her at lunch, hold her hand under the table, and he made it clear to the other guy in the school to back off. He didn't like her having friends that were guys and he even got all puffed up when Andy would talk to her and he and Andy were best friends. And now he was trying to kiss her.   
  
It took Annie a while to get Jake to even notice her. Last year she started hanging around him and his friends. She started talking like them and acting like them and she changed her whole wardrobe just for them. She now wore baggy jeans and wife beaters sometimes and then sometimes she wore more revealing clothes like short shorts and mini skirts and low cut shirts and tiny halter tops in the stead of her old frilly blouses and preppy skirts and bright colors. Annie had long brown hair she would spike, put in braids and was considering dreading sometime soon and starry blue-grey eyes, a nice enough face with a lean body and strong legs good for running and built arms good for punching, if she ever got in the position to want to hit someone. She started taking on the same reputation of Jake and Andy and all their friends as a badass girl and a teaser. Girls who hung out with the boys were the kind of girls that the bad guys wanted. And she had got herself with one.  
  
"Ok, you know what," said Jake. He was also built, his muscular body was quite apparent with his wife beater and baggy jeans. He had intense blue eyes that fascinated her and frightened her at the same time, especially when he was angry. But now he seemed rather at ease. "Just forget it. We don't have to if you're not ready yet. It's not like we're gonna screw anyway it's just a kiss for Christ's sake and I can wait." She stared at him hard, trying to figure out what he was getting at. "Come on, let's go for a walk." He held out his hand and she took it. She really liked holding his hand. She didn't know why but it gave her a sense of power, like for others to see and then they would know that she was with bad boy Jake Clifton and no one would mess with her now, not like anybody really would because she was Annie Reeves-the girl who hung with the bad guys. The girl all the bad guys want. She smiled to herself and then thought, the girl who was afraid of a stupid kiss... she wasn't a badass, just a baby.   
  
It had rained all night last night and there was standing water everywhere. In fact it had rained all through their Spring Break and now they were trying to enjoy the last few precious days of freedom. They were wandering around a part of Derry that was known as the Barrens, even though the name was a rather ridiculous one because this place was always lush and full of life. They sat down next to a drain pipe and he looked her in the eyes with all the intenseness that excited her about him and then he cracked a smile. "Truth or dare?" he asked her.  
  
She laughed. "Dare," she sighed. Nobody ever said "truth," that was the pussy thing to say. She wanted to prove she was tough enough for him, even if it meant doing what ever he asked. She kind of already knew what it was before he even asked.  
  
"Kiss me," he said. It was actually more like a command, he was telling her to.   
  
She swallowed hard. "Ok." He stood up and she brought herself to her feet. It was just a kiss, no big deal really. He got really close to her and put his hands around her hips. She felt so nervous her stomach twisted into a knot and she wanted to vomit. That would have been mortifying! They both would be scarred for life, she cringed at the thought. He put his head right up to hers and their lips locked. It was just a kiss, no big deal at all. She expected a simple peck but he was going for longer. She felt him slide his tongue across her lips, waiting for her to open her mouth. She didn't. Instead she pursed her lips together and then turned her face away. He looked at her with a bit of confusion on his face. She felt herself grow flushed. Had he really wanted to do that? She couldn't imagine having someone else's tongue in her mouth. It just didn't seem right to her. But this wasn't the Barney and Friends show, she was twelve-practically a woman.   
  
He shrugged it off. "Just a kiss," he smirked. "Your turn."  
  
"Truth or dare?" she asked.   
  
He grinned. She was beginning to plan what ort of dare she might have him accomplish for her. It seemed pointless to even ask the 'truth' part because it was never answered.   
  
"Truth," he announced.   
  
She frowned. "What did you say?"  
  
"Bet you weren't expecting that one," he laughed.   
  
"But no one says truth!"  
  
"I know," he grinned wryly, "that's why I said it." Sometimes she really didn't understand Jake at all.   
  
"What can I ask you?" she questioned.   
  
"Anything you want to," he replied.   
  
"Ok. Tell me something that you haven't told anyone," she instructed.   
  
"Something I haven't told anyone? Ok then," he answered. "Something I haven't told anyone is… Do you know where the Standpipe at that little park is? I've heard that it's haunted."   
  
She laughed loudly. "Haunted?! You gotta be kidding! It's TRUTH or dare, not BS or dare."   
  
"It is true," he told her. "This whole area down there is haunted by some real freaky crap. A lot of kids went missing or were found dead down here. They say that the drains underground are as wide as a subway line and there's something that lives down there. My brother Chad told me about it. That it pulls kids under and maims them. That's why they found that little girl in a drain, because it got her." His voice was low and mysterious. He sat down inside the drainage pipe and she frowned. "I never told anybody though, that I know about it. Not till right now… with you. And they say that if you get too close to a drain that whatever it is down there can get out and pull you in…"  
  
"I don't believe in ghost stories," Annie said stubbornly. "How can there be something in the drain that could pull you down--"   
  
"Hey," he cut her off. "What is that in there?" he was now sticking his head in the pipe.   
  
"What do you see?" she asked.  
  
"It looks like… a little boat…" he stretched his arm inside the pipe. "I wanna see if I can…" All of a sudden a bloodcurdling scream was escaping Jake's mouth and he was trying to pull his arm free. "It's got me! It's got me!" he bellowed. "Don't let me go under!!!" Annie started screaming, a piercing shrill escaping her own lips and she grabbed Jake by his free hand and tried to pull his forward. He jerked forward freely and easily as though nothing ever had him at all… He grinned maliciously.  
  
"How dare you?" she shrieked. "You know you just about scared the piss out of me?"   
  
He started laughing. "Oh, but if you had only seen the look on your face, Annie-O!" He doubled over in laughter.  
  
"I could kill you right about now," she seethed. He kept laughing. She rolled her eyes. "You are so full of crap, Jake."   
  
"Hey it really is haunted and I can prove it," he said solemnly. "There's some really strange shit that goes on there. I've heard a lot of people have died in there. Drowned like rats."   
  
Annie shuddered as he said this. When she was six she left unattended in a community swimming pool and she went down in water over her head. She remembered trying to scream as the water filled her lungs and her world went black before she felt the strong arms of her older brother grab her and pull her back up. She has a terrible fear of drowning ever since. But that didn't mean she was buying into the crap Jake was trying to feed her. "How do you know for sure? Have you seen anything yourself?"  
  
"Well there's one way for sure to find out," he was grinning in a malicious kind of way. "Why don't we go down there and check it out for ourselves to see if it really is haunted? If we don't see anything I owe you a coke, if we do see something you owe me another kiss… a real one."  
  
She frowned. She didn't want to give in but then she didn't want to really see anything either. Sure she had heard a few stories about the Standpipe herself but she had never believed them. Then again, she didn't want to get too close to it either. "I don't kn-"   
  
"What's wrong?" he asked in that malicious kind of way. "Are you scared? Scared I'll win?" he laughed. "Don't you wanna prove me wrong? Come on Annie, I dare you."  
  
"Fine," she snapped. "You wanna see it so bad? We'll go down there, but I think we're a little too old to still believe in ghost stories."  
  
So they walked down there and stopped solemnly in front of the Standpipe. "Now what?" Annie wondered aloud. "Why don't you go inside?" Jake flashed her that grin once again.   
  
"Why don't you?" she shot back. "You're the one who wants to see something so bad. So why don't you just go inside and tell me if you see anything. Then we'll get to see who is right… and who is dead." She tried to shoot him back that malicious grin of his but it felt kind of empty. The last thing she wanted was for him to be hurt (or worse) but he was the one who wanted to prove his stupid point so bad and she wasn't about to go in there, haunted or not it was creepy.   
  
"Alright, I will," he said determinedly. And he did. He marched right up to the Standpipe and opened the door. She shuddered compulsively as she watched him disappear inside it. like there was some part of her that knew something wasn't right even though she really couldn't point it out. Babies believed in ghost stories and she was trying to prove that she wasn't one… not only to Jake but to herself.   
  
Inside the Standpipe it was dark, cold, and it smelled of rain and rotting leaves. Jake decided it was probably pointless to go inside here looking for something when he could see where he was going. It would have been better if he had brought a flashlight or something. He wondered why he had even bothered to go in, why he felt like he had so much to prove. Maybe he just really wanted to impress her. That girl drove him crazy. At first it seemed like she was trying too hard but now she was being standoffish and she hadn't even wanted to kiss him! So here he was about to get himself killed over a dumb girl with braids in her hair named Annie Reeves.   
  
  
  
He jumped at a sudden sound. It sounded like a low growling of some sort of vicious animal. He couldn't see, but he heard it. And he felt something grab at him, like a claw. A foul smell filled his nostrils. "Who's there?" he demanded. He was answered by a cold, bubbling laughter.   
  
You'll die if you try to fight us, a voice colder than ice snarled at him. So why don't you join us, Jacob? Oh you'll like it down here because we float. And you can float too! We all float… We all…  
  
He screamed. He had been running in place for a few seconds before he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere. Suddenly the room was full of what felt like balloons, literally thousands of them. It was crammed air tight with them and Jake regrettably remembered one thing: he was allergic to latex. The rubber was touching him all over and it felt hot, like it was burning him. His face was on fire and his eyes were watering uncontrollably. His ears were filled with the shrill sound of balloons squeaking together and as he applied pressure on the door, which was jammed, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think about anything besides getting away. Finally it budged and as he dashed away to make his escape he was followed by thousands of blood red balloons that seemed to be tagging him. There had to have been at least fifty thousand! And that voice, that cold bubbling sound which he heard in the Standpipe was laughing quite ferociously now.   
  
Annie ran towards him and she looked panicked. When he looked into her eyes all the balloons let go of him at last and floated upward, drifting lazily into the sky.   
  
"What did you see?" she demanded, breathlessly. "I heard you scream!"   
  
Jake was still trying to catch his breath. "Did… you… didn't you… see them?" he clutched the stitch in his side as he tried to regulate his breathing where his skin was still burning and his eyes still watering from the harsh feeling of latex.   
  
"Didn't I see what?" she looked at him skeptically.   
  
"Balloons!" He exclaimed. "There were fifty thousand red balloons and they came out of the Standpipe! They were chasing me…" he stopped dead when he caught the look on her face which brought him back to the realization of how ridiculous he must have sounded. She didn't believe him… but more importantly she hadn't seen them. For sure he must be going crazy he didn't want her to think so.   
  
"I think you're screwing with me," she replied doubtfully.   
  
He managed a nervous laugh. "Yeah, you're right. I was screwing with you. I just wanted to see if you would really fall for it."  
  
"Well, I didn't" she rolled her eyes. "How stupid do you think I am?" she then looked hardly into his eyes and asked seriously, "Did you really see anything in there?"   
  
He swallowed. "No."   
  
She shrugged. "Well, in that case I guess I owe you a kiss."   
  
He focused in on her soft, pouting lips which from them awaited his prize for lying to her. Then he shifted his eyes upward to see the tiny flecks of a swarm of balloons, like scarlet birds, growing smaller and farther away into and endless grey sky. 


End file.
